Talk
by fangs-all-mine1123
Summary: "Every time I looked at Fang, I kept expecting to see the skinny little boy I'd grown up with. But I only saw this man who seemed to be growing every day and buffing up considerably. And honestly, I had no idea what to do with myself around him." A lost chapter of STWAOES. [Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. All rights reserved to James Patterson.]


**Talk**

**A/N: I want to do a hidden chapter for every book, so this is my chapter for **_**Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports**_**. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Maximum Ride novels. All rights belong to JP, I just came up with this little one-shot. Thanks. **

**[Summary for Talk: Every time I looked at Fang, I kept expecting to see the skinny little boy I'd grown up with. But I only saw this **_**man **_**who seemed to be growing every day and buffing up considerably. And honestly, I had no idea what to do with myself around him. A lost chapter of STWAOES. One-shot.]**

**Continues after chapter 132. Basically after the flock reunites and goes to Dr. M's to meet Max's mom. Excerpt from the novel:**

_**I looked at Fang, and he rolled his eyes and reached for seconds. Everyone started talking again, and it was like a Norman Rockwell painting, all of us sitting there, eating together. Well, maybe Norman Rockwell with, you know, mutants and a talking dog. But still. **_

MAX

You know how long it'd been since I sat on a couch?

Jeez. One thing's for sure. Couches beat dungeons _any day_.

I couldn't believe I was sitting there, in my mom's living room, on my mom's couch. And no, it wasn't the living room that was so surreal.

I had a _mom_. Like, a real mom. Plus, she wasn't evil. She was so incredibly opposite of evil, I was almost squealing with joy.

I mean, I _wasn't_, but almost.

Fang was sitting next to me on the couch. It had gotten late, and I didn't want to go to sleep just yet. I had told my mom that all of us girls could just camp out in Ella's room on the floor, but she said that if we were staying, we were all getting beds.

So far, she'd given Gazzy and Iggy the guest room, which had a double bed they could share. She had me and Ella sharing a bed and two blow-up mattresses for Nudge and Angel. Fang was going to sleep on the couch.

I slowly sunk into the soft cushions of the couch, feeling my muscles start to relax for the first time in weeks. Fang was watching me. We'd seemed to be watching each other a lot since we reunited. I wanted to sit down and talk to him, _really _talk to him, alone. I wanted to figure things out, apologize and make sure he wasn't still angry with me.

But I couldn't exactly have that heart-to-heart with the others all sitting in various parts of the room. Nudge and Ella were flipping channels, trying to find something to watch. Iggy and Gazzy were playing some made up game that I didn't understand, and Angel and Total were teaching Magnolia tricks.

Fang sat closer to me. I tried not to show that my heart was doing a gymnastics routine in my chest and forced myself to not scoot away from him.

"So, Germany," Fang said quietly.

About Germany. About Ari. Fang wanted to know, because he knew we hadn't talked about it at the beach when we first met up. That was just the, "We just almost died" "No way, us too" conversation.

Usually, Fang and I would have the deeper, more serious conversation in private. But this was probably as private as it was going to get.

I looked sideways at him. Fang and I had been through a lot, you know? Like, everything. Practically _every single _obstacle in my life, I tackled with Fang by my side. Whether I liked it or not. We'd never really been apart for this long.

That was an odd thought. These past few days were the longest Fang and I had ever been apart. No wonder we were both beyond upset about it. I sighed, bringing my legs up to my chest, laying my head sideways on my knees and looking at him. I was trying to decide how to tell him that Ari was my brother and that he died in my arms. I didn't think I'd get the words out.

"Some lady who was half turtle tried to convince Max she was her mom," Nudge butted in from across the room.

That was what happened to private conversations when you have them in a room with four super-hearing bird-kids who are more curious than George himself.

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," I mumbled. "She was a jerk."

"That's nothing," Iggy said. "We wrecked the _Hollywood _sign!"

"You did not," Nudge gasped. She ran over to Fang's backpack on the ground and struggled pulling the laptop out. Then, after a minute of what I suppose was research on the internet, she found an article about the "mysterious damage to the historic Hollywood sign."

"No. Way," Nudge said.

I laughed shortly, closing my eyes. The boys definitely knew how to leave a mark.

"We were locked in a dungeon."

"Did it have dragons?" Gazzy asked excitedly. Nudge shook her head sadly.

"We went to museums and stuff," Angel said. "It was really cool. And Total was allowed in cafés."

Total sighed from his spot in the corner.

"Nudge also got addicted to coffee," I said reluctantly. Fang gave me a disbelieving look.

"Well, California sucked," Gazzy said. "All Fang and Iggy did was talk about beach bunnies, whatever that is. I didn't see _one _bunny the whole time we were there. Just a bunch of girls."

I bit my lip to hold back the laughter as I looked up at Fang's face. Any other time, I'd probably jump his ass for influencing Gazzy's perverted side. But I didn't want to argue. So instead I just snorted and said, "Bunnies, huh?"

"Yeah," Gazzy said. "I looked really hard, but never saw any. And they were both really excited about them."

I pressed my lips together. Fang scratched the back of his head, a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Here, I'll look it up," Nudge said, going back to Fang's computer.

"No!" Fang, Iggy and I said at the same time.

The odd looks we got from the others forced me to come up with an excuse, fast. "Time for bed," I said, standing up. "It's been a long few days."

The others didn't fight me as much as usual, which must've meant my hunch was right - they were tired. After I had them all tucked into bed, I went back downstairs where Fang was still sitting on the couch. I sat down close to him, pulling my legs up once more. As if that would help me block out the pain and anger. As if that would protect me.

Fang looked at me, and that was all I needed to know he still wanted to talk. I sighed.

"Ari died in Germany," I said softly, my voice like steel. It was either steely or shaky. Take your pick. "In the middle of the riot. He wasn't hurt or anything. Just out of time."

Fang looked like he wanted to touch me, hold me. Comfort me. But he decided against it.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I was sorry. I screwed up. I pushed Fang away, again and again, and finally he just couldn't take it. Choosing Ari had been the last straw for him. "I know it felt like I was choosing him over you. But I just couldn't send him off to die alone. Can you imagine anything worse? God. Rotting alone with no one to talk to?"

I propped my chin up on my knees, staring at the carpet of my mother's living room floor. "He was my brother, you know. Because Jeb is my father. And we spent our whole lives hating each other. Wishing the other was dead. Now he is. My brother."

Now I was ranting. To stop myself, I started biting my nails. I turned to look at him again. Fang ran his hand down his face, pausing to pressed his thumb and pointer finger into his eyes. Then his hand continued down his face until it reached his chin, and he rubbed his chin from left to right, left to right, as if he were thinking everything I'd said over. I saw stubble on his chin, a sharper angle in his jaw.

Who was this guy? Every time I looked at Fang, I kept expecting to see the skinny little boy I'd grown up with. But each time, I only saw this _man _who seemed to be growing every day and buffing up considerably. And honestly, I had no idea what to do with myself around him.

I got a vision of Fang, pressed against me in the cave, kissing me like his life depended on it. Now it seemed as if it did. I kind of wanted to kiss him right then and there. I wanted to feel his lips again, taste his mouth again. It was crazy how many times I'd rerun that moment in my mind these past few days. I curled my hands into fists and pressed them into the cushions on the couch, forcing myself not to act on that ridiculous fantasy.

"I'm sorry," Fang said after a second.

"You didn't kill him."

"But I did leave," Fang said. "And I could've been there for you. It's just…"

I knew he was thinking about that time on the beach, when Ari almost killed him. You don't forget things like that easily.

"I know. I know."

"You have a tough job," Fang mumbled. "I don't know how you get it done."

"I know," I said again, because what else was there to say? Thank you? My throat was closing up on me as our conversation got deeper, closer to emotions I wanted to keep locked up.

"A few more days without you, and we'd have been dead."

I nodded, swallowing.

"Me, for sure," Fang said.

"You don't need me," I said finally. He didn't. Because if he did, he wouldn't have been able to leave her, right?

"Are you kidding?" Fang said.

Max looked at him, straight in the eyes. She could see that he was telling the truth.

"We're a team," Fang said after a while, looking like he wanted to say something else.

"Right."

I was starting to wondering if that was _all _we were, or if Fang was right:

_The one thing we have is each other. The one thing we can depend on, no matter what. _

Just what he'd said to me, after he'd kissed me in the cave.

He believed that as long as we had each other, we were invincible. He believed that.

Now I just had to convince myself, and we'd be golden.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Thanks a billion if you review!**


End file.
